Give supplements a big dose of oversight

If the dietary supplement industry - which makes products ranging from multivitamins to fish oil and protein supplements - were a movie, it would have to be Wild Wild West.

Although the industry has numerous reputable producers, the Food and Drug Administration has found no fewer than 123 companies that have sold products spiked with drugs or harmful additives. The FDA has taken action against some of the makers, but it has been unable to find others. Many are fly-by-night operators with unknown, or constantly changing, addresses.

Out of 100 of these companies examined in an extensive USA Today report published recently, at least 14 were being run by people with criminal records. These include owners or CEOs who had drug convictions or who had misrepresented themselves as doctors. In one case, an executive had been convicted of assault after striking a car's side-view mirror with a machete.

This all adds up to an industry in need of greater supervision.

Under a 1994 federal law, dietary supplements are treated like food, assumed to be all natural and safe until proved otherwise. Producers are not required to demonstrate the safety or effectiveness of a product before it is put on the market. And the FDA must show that a product is unsafe before it can take any action.

Making matters worse, the supplement industry seems to lend itself to wild claims. The industry - by portraying its products as alternatives to medicine controlled by big pharmaceutical companies, self-interested doctors and large corporate interests - attempts to set itself apart from rigorous science and testing.

In many ways, the supplement business is the 21st century incarnation of the elixir purveyors of bygone eras. In the 19th century, a snake oil salesman might peddle his wares by capitalizing on people's ignorance of medicine. Today's supplement industry capitalizes on their suspicion of it.

One useful approach to cleaning up the industry is offered by Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. Their bill would improve labeling while giving the FDA more authority to require manufacturers to register their products and ingredients, and to provide proof of any health claims.

If anything, the proposal is on the weak side, as it would not involve any kind of pre-approval process. But even this modest step is running into fierce opposition.

Opponents make the common argument that Congress shouldn't pass new laws; rather, it should enforce existing ones. To them, it is just a few bad apples that need to be dealt with while the bulk of the industry should not be made to face burdensome new requirements.

The truth is, tighter scrutiny would expose a dirty little secret in the industry. Even products made by reputable companies - though they might be safe and untainted - are often of dubious merit.

For the time being, however, the government's limited resources are best focused on getting the harmful or adulterated products off the shelf - and getting the bad actors out of the business.

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Give supplements a big dose of oversight

If the dietary supplement industry ? which makes products ranging from multivitamins to fish oil and protein supplements ? were a movie, it would have to be Wild Wild West.